Jet cites loss for not providing stay to stranded flyers

Over a hundred Leh-bound passengers have been stranded for the past 48 hours at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) after as the airline cancelled the flight twice in two days due to bad weather conditions and allegedly refused to provide accommodation to them.

The passengers, booked with Jet Airways, were allegedly not given food and since they were out from their hometown from quite some time, they are left with no money to buy food.

According to airport sources, all flights to Leh had been cancelled due to inclement weather. But all other airlines have provided accommodation to passengers, except Jet Airways.

“We reached here at 4 am on Tuesday to board the Jet airways flight to Leh. A few hours later, they informed us the flight was cancelled. If they were aware of the bad weather, they could have informed the passengers in advance,” said Colonel Sonam Wangchuk, Maha Vir Chakra.

“Today (Wednesday), the same was repeated and we were informed about the cancellation after we reached the airport.

"The airline could have informed the passengers and provided them accommodation. Today, most of the passengers stayed over as they have no place to go,” Wangchuk added.

Wangchuk joined other passengers, who decided to sit near the visitor’s lounge of the terminal 3 and protest against the airline.

Most passengers are residents of Leh and were out on a pilgrimage tour.

“We can understand that they cannot operate due to extreme weather but they could at least communicate it to the passengers in advance. Other flights were also cancelled but the passengers have been provided accommodation. All we got was juice and sandwich,” said Tsering Dekey, another passenger.

“We cannot provide accommodation as it will double the cost and we are already running in losses. Since weather is changing every minute, we are unable to inform passengers in advance,” said a Jet Airways spokesperson.